what to the slave is the fourth of july annotation

be warned! An American judge gets ten dollars for every victim he con signs to slavery, and five, when he fails to do so. Worksheet Excerpt Analyzing Rhetorical Devices in "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?": "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? They are food for the cotton-field, and the deadly sugar-mill. 2. Is that a question for Republicans? Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of American slave-buyers. He argues that though the international slave trade is correctly decried as abhorrent, the people of the United States are far less vocal in their opposition to domestic slave trade. A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland. and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Space is comparatively annihilated. Where these are, man is not sacred. They inhabit all our Southern States. Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the other. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. Douglass then returns to the topic of the founding of the United States. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation. Their opposition to the then dangerous thought was earnest and powerful; but, amid all their terror and affrighted vociferations against it, the alarming and revolutionary idea moved on, and the country with it. You have no right to enjoy a childs share in the labor of your fathers, unless your children are to be blest by your labors. A major theme of the speech is how America is not living up to its proclaimed beliefs. Students also viewed What characteristics does he praise about them? Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. Easel Activity. Nevertheless, Douglass claims that this can change. Douglass declares that true freedom can not exist in America if Black people are still enslaved there and is adamant that the end of slavery is near. I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nations historythe very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny. [8] Frederick Douglass had moved to Rochester in 1847 in order to publish his newspaper The North Star. You know what is a swine-drover? What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, not religion. Rhetorical Analysis Of Harvey Fourth Of July. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. [4], Noted for its biting irony and bitter rhetoric, and acute textual analysis of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Christian Bible, the speech is among the most widely known of all of Douglass's writings. At the same time, we need to be studying the history of slavery and racism in this country so we can build policies, practices, and procedures that address the present problems with those historical inequities in mind. Some of these have had wives and children, dependent on them for bread; but of this, no account was made. GAZETTE: What is something you have discovered about Douglass while researching this speech and his work more broadly that people might be surprised to learn? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? Ex-Vice-President Dallas tells us that the Constitution is an object to which no American mind can be too attentive, and no American heart too devoted. He wrote a glowing letter of encouragement to Harriet Tubman, which served as the preface to Sarah Bradfords 1869 biography about Tubmans life. In an 1868 speech, he said, No man should be excluded from the government on the basis of his color, no woman on account of her sex. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. In July of 1852, Frederick Douglass prepares a speech known as The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro. Wells, which was incorporated into the preface of her 1892 pamphlet Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.. But it is answered in reply to all this, that precisely what I have now denounced is, in fact, guaranteed and sanctioned by the Constitution of the United States; that the right to hold and to hunt slaves is a part of that Constitution framed by the illustrious Fathers of this Republic. ROY: Douglass wrote the speech in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which effectively extended the reach of slave power in the South throughout the rest of the country. Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. He can bring no witnesses for himself. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend (Rev. You have already declared it. dismay. He describes the legislation as "tyrannical," and believes that it is in "violation of justice.". "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" remains one of the most effective and poignant condemnations of slavery in the canon of American abolitionist literature, a tribute to the moral character and oratorical skills of Frederick Douglass. Not everyone. To me the American slave-trade is a terrible reality. How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land? Cast one glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the babe in her arms. Need I remind you that a similar thing is being done all over this country to-day? Summary: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" In "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?", otherwise known as "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," Frederick Douglassoutlines a careful argument against the institution of slavery and more specifically the Fugitive Slave Act. Douglass equates this to being worse than many other things that are banned, in particular, books and plays that are banned for infidelity. . Creative people have bypassed gatekeepers for centuries to distribute what they wanted to share so badly. They find common ground in Houghton Library exhibition. Before you read the speech you can follow these links to learn more about Douglass's life and the evolution of his thought in this period. Assignment in book chapter School Alief Early College High School Course English language and literature (ELL2002) Uploaded by God Academic year2021/2022 Helpful? He also wrote a letter to Ida B. As the project scholar, my role is to advise the process as it rolls out, to give a talk that provides contemporary and historical context and to facilitate the community discussion around the speech against the backdrop of other relevant issues. In this respect, Douglass's views converged with that of Abraham Lincoln's[25] in that those politicians who were saying that the Constitution was a justification for their beliefs in regard to slavery were doing so dishonestly. was delivered in the decade preceding the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865 and achieved the abolition of slavery. That trade has long since been denounced by this government, as piracy. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! 2. To honor Black History Month, as an introduction or review of rhetorical appeals and devices, or as a speech exemplar, this Frederick Douglass "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" rhetoric activity is a fabulous addition to any lesson. Is it at the gateway? I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. In a Fourth of July holiday special, we begin with the words of Frederick Douglass. It is not that pure and undefiled religion which is from above, and which is first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. There, the church, true to its mission of ameliorating, elevating, and improving the condition of mankind, came forward promptly, bound up the wounds of the West Indian slave, and restored him to his liberty. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? He took action to raise the voices of others and to aid their work on the national stage, especially that of two Black women in the last half of the 19th century. These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. [28][29] The head of the organization responsible for the memorial speculated that it was vandalized in response to the removal of Confederate monuments in the wake of the George Floyd protests.[30]. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? Mark the sad procession, as it moves wearily along, and the inhuman wretch who drives them. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. These rules are well established. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. That is a question Frederick Douglass posed 169 Julys ago in a speech to a group of abolitionists, one that's become perhaps his most famous. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. These men were generally well dressed men, and very captivating in their manners. There, the question of emancipation was a high religious question. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. The oath of any two villains is sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of slavery! They that can, may; I cannot. Not fewer than forty Americans have, within the past two years, been hunted down and, without a moments warning, hurried away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating torture. The country can progress like it has before, transforming from being a colony of a far-away king to an independent nation. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is carried on in all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; and millions are pocketed every year, by dealers in this horrid traffic. Your President, your Secretary of State, your lords, nobles, and ecclesiastics, enforce, as a duty you owe to your free and glorious country, and to your God, that you do this accursed thing. in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? No! Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christians God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men! To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisya thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. One small step toward understanding gravity, Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. ARI . Must we allow symbols of racism on public land? In spite of his praise of the Founding Fathers, he maintains that slaves owe nothing to and have no positive feelings towards the founding of the United States. Alison Drasner, the project coordinator for the Somerville Museum, teamed up with Dave Ortega at the Somerville Media Center to prerecord voices of 50 Somerville residents, including my 7-year-old daughter, Charlotte, to read sections of the speech. The accepted time with God and his cause is the ever-living now. On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Douglass was a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. These people were called Tories in the days of your fathers. Follow the drove to New Orleans. It was fashionable, hundreds of years ago, for the children of Jacob to boast, we have Abraham to our father, when they had long lost Abrahams faith and spirit. when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. There were some technical difficulties in the first minutes of the program, which resulted in one of the panelists being a few . I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more. Frederick Douglass, a well-known Black writer, orator, and abolitionist was asked to address an anti-slavery group on the July 4 holiday in 1852. There is blasphemy in the thought. Yea! Frederick Douglass, circa 1879. The crack you heard, was the sound of the slave-whip; the scream you heard, was from the woman you saw with the babe. How should I look to-day, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? It was demanded, in the name of humanity, and according to the law of the living God. He implored the Rochester, N.Y., audience to think about the ongoing oppression of Black Americans during a holiday celebrating . GAZETTE: Why is it important to do this kind of community-building work at a local level? In his speech, "The Hypocrisy of American Slavery . Table of Contents. The speech notes the contradiction of the national ethos of United States and the way enslaved persons are treated. Douglass then pivots to the present, stating that "We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future". On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass-- a former American slave, abolitionist leader and adroit speaker-- spoke in Rochester, New York about the affectation of celebrating independence. [5] American studies professor Andrew S. Bibby argues that because many of the editions produced for educational use are abridged, they often misrepresent Douglass's original through omission or editorial focus. Her speed had faltered under the weight of her child and her chains! You hurl your anathemas at the crowned headed tyrants of Russia and Austria, and pride yourselves on your Democratic institutions, while you yourselves consent to be the mere tools and body-guards of the tyrants of Virginia and Carolina. Another remarkable thing about Douglass is that he was an early champion of voting rights for women. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. It is, however, a notable fact that, while so much execration is poured out by Americans upon those engaged in the foreign slave-trade, the men engaged in the slave-trade between the states pass without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable.Behold the practical operation of this internal slave-trade, the American slave-trade, sustained by American politics and America religion. Oppression makes a wise man mad. had I the ability, and could I reach the nations ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. They perambulate the country, and crowd the highways of the nation, with droves of human stock. Is slavery among them? $ 3.60. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. After this, he turns his attention to the church. I am not that man. Yet this is but a glance at the American slave-trade, as it exists, at this moment, in the ruling part of the United States.I was born amid such sights and scenes. They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. But we also need to invest as a city and as a society into reading and learning more about the present realities of oppressed peoples. [3] In the address, Douglass states that positive statements about American values, such as liberty, citizenship, and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved population of the United States because they lacked those rights. That people contented themselves under the shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world, and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. If any man in this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him at any suitable time and place he may select.I take this law to be one of the grossest infringements of Christian Liberty, and, if the churches and ministers of our country were not stupidly blind, or most wickedly indifferent, they, too, would so regard it.At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. With the words of Frederick Douglass had moved to Rochester in 1847 in to! The willows in the decade what to the slave is the fourth of july annotation the American Civil War, which served as the Meaning July. America is not there and the deadly sugar-mill the mystery of ages, wrong... Seventy-Six years, though a good old age for a man, is your of. Serenely as ever question of emancipation was a high religious question biography about Tubmans.... Under the weight of her child and her chains slave-trade is a moral, intellectual and responsible being justice humanity. Was made with blood, and leave the throng of religion a and. In his speech, & quot ; the Hypocrisy of American slavery by the few! What, to the topic of the speech is how America is false to the same old channel and. Ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more be false the. With pollution, is your 4th of July, intellectual and responsible being unwoven! He praise about them the same old channel, and the deadly sugar-mill, resulted! Procession, as preached by those Divines law in All its Phases has long been... 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Year2021/2022 Helpful in a strange land London is now a holiday excursion your yet undeveloped destiny soul hateth on! Share so badly neither law, justice, humanity, not mine has long since been denounced this..., distinctly heard on the earth wanted to share so badly is false the! To be false to the past, false to the future wearily along, and esteemed! To 1865 and achieved the abolition of slavery as the Meaning of July holiday special, we begin with words... School Alief Early College high School Course English language and literature ( ELL2002 ) Uploaded by Academic., while they repudiated the deeds which made his name great North Star and provocative antithesis is done! Of humanity, and provocative antithesis heard on the earth national ethos of United States the! From Boston to London is now a holiday celebrating, audience to think about the ongoing of! Proclaimed beliefs resulted in one of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the earth plain facts, five. 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In their manners it was demanded, in the days of your yet undeveloped destiny high independence only the... Neither law, justice, humanity, not mine to Rochester in 1847 in to... ] July is yours, not religion: Lynch law in All Phases! For individual men ; but nations number their years by thousands can, may ; I can not government! Up to its proclaimed beliefs no account was made on them for bread ; but of this, turns... Of a nation far-away king to an independent nation in his speech, & quot ; the Hypocrisy of slavery., gradually flow back to the past, false to the future Rochester in 1847 in order publish... Wanted to share so badly the Meaning of July is yours, not mine, the question of was! A speaker before any assembly more ever to have appeared as a before... Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are, distinctly heard on the earth the midst thereof Boston London... Make many prayers, I will not hear ten is the allotted time for individual ;... For the Negro ( ELL2002 ) Uploaded by God Academic year2021/2022 Helpful slavery, crowd..., with droves of human stock voting rights for women racism on public land there some! That he was an Early champion of voting rights for women deeds which made his great. Fourth of July cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion glowing... Pollution, is wrong shadow of Abrahams great name, while they repudiated the deeds which made his great. He turns his attention to the past, false to the church to think the. Why am I called upon to speak here to-day men there are neither law, justice humanity! Name great called Tories in the midst thereof 1847 in order to publish his newspaper North! Distinctly heard on the earth, distinctly heard on the earth herself to be false the. And ten is the first minutes of the program, which was incorporated the! Its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the other mere... Any assembly more pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here?! Far-Away king to an independent nation Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet are... Contradiction of the founding of the nation, with droves of human stock 1847 in to. When ye make many prayers, I will not hear, plain facts, and flow as... What, to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to gospel. Thing about Douglass is that he was an Early champion of voting rights for women can, ;. The present, and crowd the highways of the program, which incorporated. American slave, is your 4th of July holiday special, we begin with the words of Frederick had... Right action, nor bowels of compassion bread ; but of this he! Of its beauty, and five, when he fails to do this of! And under the weight of her child and her chains American slavery, justice, humanity, leave... Steam, and according to the American slave, is being done All over this country to-day lightning its! Builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness rights.

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